Cuomo’s Medicaid task force holds first meeting, faces backlash from advocates

ALBANY -- A panel tasked with finding ways to overhaul the state’s health care system and save $2.5 billion in Medicaid costs met for the first time Tuesday in the state capital.

The 21-member Medicaid Redesign Team II, comprised of state officials and industry insiders, has roughly seven weeks to tackle the gargantuan task of trimming billions from a program that serves roughly six million poor and elderly New Yorkers.

Gov. Cuomo convened the task force as part of his plan to tackle the state’s ballooning Medicaid costs, which have led to a projected $6 billion budget gap.

“It’s important that we do this, do it thoughtfully, and do it well, so that we can continue to maintain and sustain the Medicaid program,” said Michael Dowling, CEO of Northwell Health and co-chair of the panel. “This is to protect the Medicaid program for the future and so that we can make changes to it to preserve it.”

Advocates, fearing widespread cuts and restructuring of the program, rallied outside the public meeting before briefly interrupting Cuomo budget director Robert Mujica as he recapped the work of the last MRT with chants of “We are watching, no Medicaid cuts.”

Some blasted the process as a sham, voicing displeasure over the short timeframe, the makeup of the advisory group and the high number of health care executives on the dais.

“Governor Cuomo is not to be trusted regarding this non-transparent MRT process," said Charles King, CEO of the non-profit Housing Works. “The MRT itself is loaded with self-interested insiders who will do the governor’s bidding as long as their ox isn’t gored. And the Legislature has been completely shut out of the process, being asked to approve the results sight unseen or face massive across the board cuts. This is not how you improve health care for New Yorkers. And it is undemocratic at its core.”

Dowling announced the MRT will host two more public meetings before issuing its final recommendations. One will be held in New York City on March 2, while the final one will take place sometime “Mid-March.”

Lawmakers will then have a limited time to analyze the results as they prepare for the budget deadline on April 1.

A separate sub-committee will be convened to look at long-term care, which Mujica said is responsible for about half of the recent growth of the program.

Spending on “Managed Long Term Care” u2015 private insurance plans contracting with Medicaid meant to help people receive care at home rather than nursing homes -- tripled between 2013 and 2019, a $4.8 billion increase, the administration has said.

Mayor de Blasio was in town a day earlier, decrying another part of Cuomo’s Medicaid proposal.

De Blasio warned that the city could see the closure of 19 neighborhood health clinics, the end of popular after-school programs, and more than 1,300 doctors and nurses possibly losing their jobs under Cuomo’s plan to make the city and counties pay more in Medicaid costs if the program’s growth can’t be reined in.

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